The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vindicated pop star Ed Sheeran against copyright infringement claims directed to his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud.” A holding company called Structured Asset Sales, LLC (“SAS”) sued Sheeran in 2018, claiming that “Thinking Out Loud” infringed the copyright in Ed Townsend and Marvin Gaye’s 1973 song “Let’s Get It On.” The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered summary judgment in Sheeran’s favor, and the Second Circuit affirmed. The court analyzed the Copyright Act of 1909 and held that the scope of copyright protection for a musical composition was limited to what was reflected in the deposit copy because of a requirement that the “complete” work be submitted to the Copyright Office. The Court thus declined to consider expert testimony about a bass line common to both songs that only appeared in the “Let’s Get It On” audio recording and not in the sheet music submitted as the deposit copy. Comparing the “Let’s Get It On” deposit copy to “Thinking Out Loud,” the court ultimately concluded that “Thinking Out Loud” was not substantially similar to any protectable expression in “Let’s Get It On,” because the common elements of the chord progressions and syncopated rhythms in “Let’s Get It On” were not original expressions taken separately or together.
